greg3

Very nice!! The control room itself is my favourite part and it certainly looks very busy!!

Thanks for the comments... The sticker is from ideas book 697 (the same one as the sticker I used on the beach cafe in the previous update)

Long time, no update!! Thanks for all the comments - I probably will at some point get round to doing something with the open air pool (either getting rid of it - making it a marina maybe, or developing it with more facilities etc) But for now, I've finally got round to fitting the 60026 Bike Shop into the village (with a few mods!!) First it's now a single storey building, I got rid of the revolving doors (great idea and design but just not suited to such a small building) and added a side wall.... finally I fitted it out as a small independently run outdoors/camping shop. Front view (the sign is a sticker from an ideas book and was the inspiration for the shop!!) Side view Inside - a couple of mannequins and a selection of camping equipment (tent, sleeping bag etc) is set up to display the available products. More items are displayed on the shelves (the thing hanging in the middle of the bottom shelf is meant to be a "Camelbak" type hydration backpack. Finally a view of the shop in the village. In the winter it can sell skiing/snowboarding gear and it might eventually get its upper floor added if Ballabreek gets more taller buildings. Anyway, thanks for looking - comments always welcome.

Now that's brilliant!! A novel idea well executed... the whole thing just comes together perfectly, the splashes of colour, the wall murals and of course the exhibits... all very clever!! Nice work!

Well I'm glad you asked!! Having just bought 60026 as a birthday present to myself, I'm working on fitting it into Ballabreek. The next few updates will follow the work... First off, the pizza place... as Ballabreek already has a pizza shop, I've turned the 60026 version into a cafe for by the beach. Didn't need much MODing - just a new sign (from an old ideas book) and a few extra details inside... Front view Back Close up of the interior... added a coffee machine and an extra stool at the (extended) counter. The large windows allow customers to enjoy the view even on days like this when it's a bit cold and windy!! Happy customers!! The cafe serves hot and cold drinks as well as delicious snacks and meals. (all using fresh local produce and at reasonable prices!!) Thanks for looking and any comments are always welcome... next update will be based on the 60026 bike shop (whatever it ends up being!!)

I posted a picture of this in my Ballabreek Village topic but thought it deserved a few more pics... The basic principle behind the Camera Obscura has been known since Ancient Egyptian times. The idea is that light entering a darkened room (Camera Obscura is Latin for dark room) through a small hole can create an image on the opposite wall. The image is inverted but in full colour and detail. As well as eventually leading to photography as we now know it, camera obscuras were used in science, art, warfare and finally as a form of entertainment. In Victorian times they were popular attractions at many seaside resorts. These camera obscuras usually had the light entering trough a hole in a turret on the roof where it was reflected off a 45º mirror onto a table below where several people at a time could watch it. Rotating the turret gave a 360º view - although near my house is a restored version with 11 separate mirrors arranged in a circle. My Lego version is a much simpler straight through version (couldn't find a Lego mirror good enough to reflect the image accurately) but still works... The "Amazing Travelling Camera Obscura"... I based the design on a Victorian Bathing Machine (sort of a changing room on wheels) as there are several photos on the net of similar conversions. Front view - the V pattern is a tribute to Queen Victoria (actually it covers a couple of gaps between bricks that were letting light through and spoiling the image!!) The hole/lens is visible in the centre... The viewing platform/screen (tracing paper worked best but I wanted to only use Lego parts so I've used a white minifigure cape!! To use the Camera Obscura a customer stands in front of the screen and if they need to, lowers a shutter behind them to block out any stray light. Just like a real one, my version works best when the subject is brightly lit by sunlight and the screen is in shade. The image... as you can see it's upside down but you can still make out what it is... sort of!! Inside you can see how it works... the light enters through a technic hole then shines through a minifig magnifying glass (letting the light in through a large hole results in a fuzzier but brighter image... adding the lens sharpens the image. The image is projected onto the thin screen and can be viewed from the other side. Finally the "Professor" is ready to move on to the next town.... (just waiting for a proper horse hitch part!) Thanks for looking... comments are always welcome..

This week's update gives the people of Ballabreek an idea of some of what would have been happening on the beach in its heyday as a tourist attraction (and was inspired by a visit to a couple of real life local attractions (a fully working 120 year old Camera Obscura and an old open air theatre)... Overview showing a mobile Camera Obscura and a temporary stage for a Pierrot show.. The Camera Obscura - once it would have been a mobile changing room (Bathing Machine) for the swimming pool but it was converted into a camera obscura during the 1880's and has been restored by the "Ballabreek Victorian Society"!! It's fully functional and uses only Lego parts... a screen inside shows an inverted but full colour moving image of whatever's out the front. In its day it would have been the only way to see a colour moving image on a screen so was incredibly popular. When my camera's recharged I'll post some more pics of the Camera Obscura to show how it works (I think it might even deserve its own topic!!) Pierrot show. Such shows were very popular at British seasides but while the costume was copied from the traditional French character the acts varied from juggling, music, acrobatics and comedy sketches. In some places they had purpose built stages but more often than not, they performed on a simple board stage on the sand. (They were very popular and during WW1 Pierrot Troupes even performed near the front lines) This troupe are performing a comedy routine. They've been singing 2 songs, the guy with the banjo(?) has been telling the sad tale of his girlfriend who's left him for someone else while the sax(?) player's song is all about his new love.... this picture shows the moment when they realise they're singing about the same person!! What happens next is that before they come to blows the maraca player (who's a bit slow on the uptake) "knocks" them both out when he realises the girl is actually his sister! (I know it's not the greatest routine but I had to come up with a reason for the expressions I've used!!) Thanks for looking - I hope you like this little scene - comments are always welcome...

Well it's a Bank Holiday weekend and where better to spend it than on the beach (which is what I've been doing the last 2 days) but now the weather's gone back to normal (wind, rain, fog etc) I've retreated indoors to Ballabreek's Beach (where the sun always shines!!) to set up a little beach scene... Overview - with it being a long weekend, the locals have set up some special activities to attract people to the sand... The local ice cream salesman is doing great business. I wanted to rebuild set 6601 (great memories of that set as a child!!) but found I was lacking a lot of the parts in a usable condition so with a MOD here and there here's my new version) The local Marine Wildlife Conservation Group have set up a temporary "touch tank" where visitors can see, handle and learn about the plants and animals found near the coast. (real life versions of these are always very popular when they appear at local events) The local dive shop and Diving Club have a display of antique diving gear... And items raised from some of the wrecks to found in the waters around the coast... Finally, a few hardy souls are making use of the pool.... the sun may have been shining but the sea's still pretty cold!!! Thanks for looking (I hadn't really planned an update this week as there's no new buildings or exciting stories to tell but once I'd set up the scene I couldn't help adding it to the "history" of Ballabreek!) As always, any omments are more than welcome... Cheers

Another nice shop there LT... I really like the paint mixing machine but I can't help feeling that for a paint shop the interior is a little drab... maybe a different colour might help? (or you could create some paint colour chart stickers for the wall or something?)

Lovely house!! The exterior is great with the various details and textures but it's the interior that really does it for me... such a lot packed into a small space... beautiful work!!

Nice work! I've always been into the minifig scale but these micro models are beginning to grow on me... the clever use of parts always impresses me (I think the library is my favourite!!)

Absolutely brilliant!! I love the combination of the old and the modern (the Apple store interior is especially good!!) Nice work!

Introducing Ballabreek's latest business... the Dive Shop! My hardworking builders have turned this Into this... A small shop selling just about anything a diver might need. Inside... The air tank filling station and counter. Wet suits, air tanks, masks, fins, even spearguns... this shop has it all!! Another view of the display stand... Now open for business!! To attract new customers and make the shop's opening a bit more special, the owner has an antique diving suit and air pump on display. And the owner? Arthur Curry has just moved into Ballabreek (but won't say from where!) and is the latest in a long line of divers and undersea explorers (it's said his great grandfather, and original owner of the antique diving suit, spent years searching for Atlantis before disappearing under mysterious circumstances!!) Will we ever find out the real reason why Arthur has moved to Ballabreek? Maybe... Hope you all like the new addition to the beach... comments are always welcome. Thanks for looking!!

I really like these boats - especially the little tug boat!! You must have some serious criminals in your town if the police need that sort of firepower!!!

Nice looking boat... with a cool engine design (they certainly look powerful!!)

Nice!! I really like the arched windows and the roof terrace/garden bit (although in my opinion the big plain windows on the first floor don't quite seem to "fit in" with the rest of the building) Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next...

This is a wonderful street scene.... Love the building designs but it's the little details that bring it to life and the brick built road looks perfect!! Excellent stuff!

Nice work (as always) Simple but effective (great use of the paint rollers) and the stickers suit it perfectly (think I still have a set of those stickers somewhere... Were the originals yellow on black?) Around here shops like this would most often have accomodation upstairs - a small flat/bedsit maybe?

Thanks for the comments... Don't worry, this isn't the "final" result... I might be running out of space, but buildings will change use/be replaced etc (I also have in mind a few stories to play out in the village.... Watch this space!!) I do like the sound of St Vincent's medical centre!! (And great minds must think alike as I'm actually just waiting for baseplates to fill in the small gaps) Close but not quite....

Thanks again for the comments... as promised here's the small beach (took an age to finally settle on a layout that would fit the available space but still look believable(ish!)) As always, it comes with a backstory/bit of history!! For centuries, this sheltered cove has been used by local fisherman to beach their boats but it wasn't until the 1850's that wealthy Victorian's began to develop it into something more - laying the foundations for what we see today... The promenade was the first thing to be built. Intended as a place where the local people could walk and take in the fresh sea air, it was hopped that it would improve people's health. It also attracted visitors from larger, more industrial towns nearby and originally was much wider with shops/stalls on the landward side (these were lost when the coast road was widened during the 1950's) Now the promenade is still popular as a place for walking, jogging, fishing etc. The open air tidal pool was build a few years later. The retaining wall traps water as the tide goes out providing a safe place for people to swim. The pool fell out of use during the 1960's when people discovered they could travel to places with much warmer water for their holidays and the original changing rooms on the beach are long since gone. It's hoped that the pool could become popular again especially in the summer so the wall has been restored and the pool dredged to make it usable again. At the height of its popularity the beach was surrounded by small shops, amusement stalls and a cafe (as well as changing rooms for the pool) All that remains of these now is a derelict shop from the 1970's. It would have sold ice cream, buckets and spades, saucy postcards etc but is now in a sad state of disrepair (having suffered at least 1 fire!). However, it has recently been bought by a new owner who has plans to set up a new business in the premisses (he's sent a workman down to check it out before the renovation begins... any ideas what it might become?) Finally, the bit of the beach area that the tourists won't be bothered with... the sewage pumping/treatment station. For decades, the beach has had a problem with pollution as damage to pipes in the Victorian system resulted in sewerage being discharged into the sea too close to shore and being washed into the cove (yuk!). The increasing population hasn't helped either, so a system of treatment tanks has been developed. In Ballabreek the tank was constructed inside a natural rock outcrop - the waste is pumped through undersea pipes into the tank where a series of filters and bacteria break down the organic waste until it is safe to discharge into the sea as the tide is going out. The system has proved very effective and after only a few months the sea water quality has shown a huge improvement, laying the foundations for making the beach area a place Ballabreek can be proud of!! This was originally going to be the site of a lighthouse (a MOD of last year's Creator model) but having recently got the new fire helicopter I though I'd make it a bit more "industrial" using the supposed "factory". Don't worry, the facility is still very green as the waste gas from the process is stored in the holding tank and used to power the pumps etc. (looking at the photos, I might change the dock from dark grey to light grey) So there we have it, the latest addition to Ballabreek and another area set to undergo a few changes over the next few weeks... hope you like it!! Comments always welcome... Finally an overview of the whole village.. (as you can see, I've just about run out of space!!)

You're off to a good start I really like the first 2 buildings you had there (shame you broke up the first one!) As for building ideas I can't really help as most of my Lego village is made of official sets (although I often MOD them to make them fit in better) Apart from that I'd say just go out for a walk with a camera and take pics of interesting real life buildings to give you design ideas. Looking forward to seeing more!!

NIce! I like the variety in the windows, doors and roof details. I've tried making micro-scale buildings and it was a lot harder than I thought!! You've done a good job - looking forward to more!!

Great looking plane and that final truck looks excellent.... I'd love to see them in bricks!! Nice work!

Very nice!! I especially like the black/white staircase and the simple but effective and realistic exterior. The final pic of the street is excellent too (you've got a nice collection of buildings there!!)

Thanks for the comments LT... Compared to a modern building it probably is a bit low (minifigs need to duck to get through the doorway) but inside they can stand up with a bit of room to spare. But I think this just adds to the charm and the fact it's such an "old" building (built by hand by a small group of eager priests in a time when people were on average shorter anyway) I'll get round to posting some pics of it with a congregation at some point but for now it's off to Ballabreek's beach.... Once it's built that is!!!!